My First Atlas of the 50 States broke my brain a bit. Crowded and confusing are the first two words that come to mind.
Ok, I know I caMy head hurts...
My First Atlas of the 50 States broke my brain a bit. Crowded and confusing are the first two words that come to mind.
Ok, I know I can be a bit geographically challenged/unobservant sometimes...but since when did we move the Statue of Liberty inland and relocate our nation's capital to southern Pennsylvania?? [image]
We've got some other geographical head scratchers here, too. It might be convenient to rotate the states all willy-nilly for layout purposes, but this is a book for children. Let's keep north at the top of the page, shall we? [image]
The states are littered with itty bitty clip art icons. Thankfully, they're labeled, as I would've been stumped trying to identify some of the things plunked on top of even my home state. Like what is this supposed to be? [image] (Silly me--apparently, the correct answer is...Putnam Memorial State Park?)
On top of that, the clip art seemed to be chosen and placed pretty haphazardly. I didn't see much rhyme or reason to any of it.
Then there's the writing. The descriptions are painfully dry, and some of the sentence structure is rough, to put it nicely.
What does this have going for it? The tiny photographs plunked on each page are actually vibrant and interesting. Dump the clip art and clunky layouts, and make a book that uses those instead!
1.5 stars. I'd skip this one and choose another resource to help kids learn about the 50 states.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me a DRC of this book, which will be available for purchase on September 17th....more
Great little bio! What a great introduction to Frida Kahlo! Even though this short biography is written for children, it kept my attention as an adultGreat little bio! What a great introduction to Frida Kahlo! Even though this short biography is written for children, it kept my attention as an adult reader, and I learned things about the artist along the way.
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The illustrations are bright and eye catching, and they transported me right into Frida's world. I love that pieces of her artwork are included on each page, and we learn more about each painting at the end of the narrative. This book definitely did its job!
If I had to quibble with anything, I'd say that in places in the illustrations, the perspective looks a little wonky. I did notice one minor layout issue that made it difficult to determine which one of three chunks of text should be read first.
Four stars. I'd love to see more titles added to this series!
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me a DRC of this book, which will be available for purchase on September 3rd....more
I was all on board with this charming little introduction to van Gogh's life and work. His story is told clearly and simply, and young readers are No.
I was all on board with this charming little introduction to van Gogh's life and work. His story is told clearly and simply, and young readers are introduced to his most famous works of art. [image]
Then I got to the last illustration. Seems to me that the text and the illustration are romanticizing his death by suicide! [image] Sorry, but no. Hell no. I understand that the ending needs to be PG for young readers, but this telling completely misses the mark.
2 stars. Fixing that one part would be fairly simple, so I hope there are adjustments made, but I can't recommend this version.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me a DRC of this book, which will be available for purchase on September 3rd....more
Mythologica's illustrations are bold, striking, and imaginative. These renderings of the Greek gods and goddesses eI'd buy it as a coffee table book.
Mythologica's illustrations are bold, striking, and imaginative. These renderings of the Greek gods and goddesses encouraged me to question the stereotypical images of these figures that have formed in my head over time.
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On the other hand, the text and layout both need some tweaking. The text is broken into different unrelated blocks. The intended audience is children, and it would be much easier for them to read one continuous narrative.
Some pages are quite crowded with objects and text. The crowding limits the space available for text, so some of it is written in a thin, tiny font that is *really* difficult to read. I'd suggest removing some of the secondary objects and cutting the amount of text so that it can be laid out in a way that is much more readable.
I'd also cut down on the number of fonts used--the numerous changes in typeface make my eye jump around the page, and I'd imagine that a child would have the same problem.
Amazon has Mythologica listed for 7-10 year olds, and to me, that range seems way off. The vocabulary is going to be over the heads of most younger readers. (For example, I'm not sure many parents/teachers are going to want to explain to 7 year olds what an "illegitimate child" is!) I'd say ages 10+ is probably closer to accurate.
3.5 stars rounded up--I'd buy Mythologica for the artwork, but I'd probably turn to another source to help a tween gather information about Greek mythology.
Thanks to NetGalley and Wide Eyed Editions for my DRC of this book, which will be available for purchase on September 3rd....more
Hey, now I "get" Watergate... [image] While it's billed as middle grades, Bringing Down A President: the Watergate Scandal is a great overview of WaterHey, now I "get" Watergate... [image] While it's billed as middle grades, Bringing Down A President: the Watergate Scandal is a great overview of Watergate for adults who never quite got the full story. I'm not old enough to have lived through Watergate, and just about every US history class I've ever taken has covered 1946 to about 1990 in about three sentences.
"So, we won World War II, but then we got into a Cold War with the Commies, and both sides made a metric shit-ton of weapons. Then the Soviet Union broke up, and we won. 'Murica!"
Thanks to the authors for clearing up a murky spot in my historical education.
As an adult reader, a few things didn't quite hit the mark for me. [image] The "Fly on the Wall" labels weren't really needed--without those markings, it still would have been clear when the text was quoting historical figures.
Some of the pictures tried to be humorous, but they weren't too helpful in understanding what happened. In the line drawings, it was hard to tell apart many of the characters. I agree with the reviewers who said that photos would have been a better choice.
I think middle grades readers will enjoy the book a bit less than adults. They might pick it up to complete required research, but it probably wouldn't hold their interest as a voluntary read. Middle grades readers might be annoyed by sections explaining very simple concepts. At the same time, they might also be irritated that some key concepts are not explained.
3.5 stars rounded up--3 stars for middle grades readers, but 4 for adults who want a primer on the subject.
Thanks to NetGalley and Roaring Brook Press for giving me a DRC of this book....more
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